Yeah, weirdly the fully modded up .50 still seems to be the best for accuracy even though the laser and plasma both suggest that they have better accuracy. With sneak attack you don't really have to worry about the .50 not having the highest damage in the world because it's still high enough to take out all but the most powerful enemies in one shot.

Fully modded .50 sniper rifle that does double damage to enemies with full health. Adding a suppressor to it with a certain set of perks and a sneak crit, it does a heap ton of damage.

Two shot hardened sniper rifle in .308 for now.

I have a plasma infused .50 cal Marksman Rifle that has a chance to turn enemies into goo. Saldy my character is built for automatics so I give it to my follower and they do really well with it.

I have a Recon .50 Sniper Rifle, which was modded from the base hunting rifle. I also have a fully modded gauss rifle. The gauss rifle packs a hell of a punch, but I almost don't like using it because of how insanely overpowered it is.

This.

However I got the overhaul balance mod and then used FO4Edit to buff the hunting rifle even more. If you notice the .50 cal out of the hunting rifle does LESS damage than the .44 out of the revolver, which is ridiculous. It should have several times the energy, more recoil, slower load, and a smaller mag.

I havn't found anything good Sniper wise on my current playthrough (I've done quite well with Armor, though), so I modded out the Limitless Potential for Sniper use. It is surprisingly effective, although it is like having a medium range, non-V.A.T.S. rifle that works at full Sniper range. No awesome Headshots, really, but lots and lots of nice, solid hits at a serious range.

I had a .50 sniper rifle that did 15 points fire damage. I was quick to toss is out once a legendary super mutant dropped a two shot hunting rifle.

So now I'm packing a two shot .50 siper rifle with a suppressor and a long recon scope. Combined with my perks (mr. sandman and ninja) a sneak attack with it does something around 1200 dam (IIRC). I call it Double Tap.

.50 cal suppressed Hunting Rifle that shoots an additional bullet: 252 base damage, and with the second bullet a total of 504. With sneak perks I think that gets multiplied by 5.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/395552769139426582/EB8C9236DFEF70B1C948180355D5394C43A231B4/ for now...

Reacher:

Fully modded and suppressed .50 hunting rifle. Long Recon Scope. Instigator legendary effect. Does double damage if the foe is at full health.

With the sniper perk from MacCready, and my own sneaky skills, intact heads literally beckon. I am become death.

I don't find designated sniper rifles to be any better than your average scoped rifle. There isn't an actual sniper rifle in this game. Currently I'm using a .50 pipe rifle, which is better than anything else I've been able to mod so far. Kinda sad.

The hunting rifle upgraded to .50 cal is superior to the pipe rifle with regard to damage per shot - which is the stat that is most important to instigators like myself! ;P Plus, (if you care about this sort of thing) the upgraded stock makes the whole rig look like a proper sniper rifle, imo.

edit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByJ1sGtNshkpVTdEQVhEWHg3SWM/view?usp=sharing

To me, this looks like a proper sniper. This is one I found on the web, mine has the same legendary effect, but a long recon scope, instead of the scope pictured.

I confess, however, I was not aware that the pipe pistol can be upgraded to .50 cal. I don't think I have seen that option.

I am using a simple Marksman .308 hunting rifle that I found a while ago. The only mod I made to it was to add a short Recon scope to it. It already had a medium capacity (7) magazine, the marksman stock, ported long barrel and muzzle. I think it currently does 92 damage.

I have not come across any legendary sniper rifles yet. I have a somewhat large collection of legendary 10mm pistols though.

Fully upgraded Instigating .308 Sniper Rifle with suppressor. Combine this with all Rifleman perks, Ninja perks and fire it from a distance while sneaking. Move in and mopped up with Explosive combat shotgun.

I've switched Guardian's Overseer back to an automatic .45 again since the Gauss Rifle seems to the superior weapon.

Thanks everyone, I am using a legendary drop which has the same as the overseers, modded to be surpressed. It's okay but I want a proper sniper rifle so I can convert it to be a shorter ranged gun.

Question about the second bullet on the 2x projectile - does the critical bonus damage only count on the first bullet - I think that the second bullet fired has no bonuses whatsoever and only does basic damage?

For anyone that has an explosive .50 sniper rifle, where did you find it? Was it a quest reward? Bought from a merchant? Or just a random legendary drop. This is the main weapon that I'm lusting after right now. I want one.

I'm about to get some gaming in, and I think I'm going to try fully modding a .308 combat rifle with the sniper mods. A lot of people say that it's a better sniper rifle than the .50 sniper rifle that gets modded from the hunting rifle. A .308 combat rifle is my main mid-range weapon, and I love it. Maybe I'll end up liking the .308 combat sniper rifle more as well.

were you aware that you can

were you aware that you can farm for what you want? I am on console, so that is my only way to try to get what I want.

Keep reloading a save just before you enter the building where the legendary foe spawns until you get the weapon you want (this re-rolls the weapon type), then keep reloading the "auto-save" that was generated just after you entered the building until you get the legendary effect you want (this re-rolls the effect). Takes a while, but it works. The legendary foe may or may not spawn every time, so be patient. That is how I got my Instigator Hunting Rifle. Saw a lot of legendary melee weapons, too, during that process. Even a cane that does more damage the weaker I get. What a silly idea.

I have a modded crippling hunting rifle that does +25% limb damage.

I've heard of people doing this, but I haven't done it myself. Thanks for explaining the process, I might have to try this. I'm on PC so I could just use a console command to add the legendary effect to my sniper rifle, but I'd rather avoid doing that. Does this work with any legendary foe? Or would it need to be a certain type of legendary foe (like a legendary gunner as opposed to a legendary super mutant)?

edit - I actually picked up that legendary cane a while back. I also picked up a legendary poisoning rolling pin a while back lol

I haven't used either of them yet, but they should be fun to screw around with later on. I'd love to run through a raider camp wearing an armored bathrobe while killing everything with a poisoning rolling pin lol

I haven't been able to mod the hunting rifle into a .50 yet, but that does look like a better solution. Currently the Pipe Rifle leads. I also have one that's automatic, which makes it fun to snipe with =D

The only ones that I have tried are gunners. There is a particular place where one spawns just after you enter the building... I can't think of the name of it at the moment, will post later if I think of it.

I just got an image of Aunt Bee on a rampage. You made me laugh with that one!

Sweet! I think that is what keeps me jonesing for more. I keep finding out about things I need to try. It is never ending!

I have to make my own bowling alley still. Need a good half day for it, probably! Christmas vacation coming up. Looks like I will be sitting in front of my TV a lot!

I use a 50%+ Damage to Super Mutants .50 Hunting Rifle, with all the trimmings. I sell a lot of Legendary crap, it's mostly useless. Head shots are what you should be doing and not much survives them. I just got the Double Damage to full Health laser rifle and gave it the business.

So I'm wandering around with 2 great snipers right now.